Andy Carroll could miss just one more Gameweek with the striker targeting a return to action against North East rivals Sunderland on January 16, according to Newcastle boss Alan Pardew.
Talking after today’s 1-0 away win at Wigan, the Toon boss admitted that he and the club’s medical staff remain in dark on the extent of Carroll’s thigh injury but offered this little scrap of reassurance from the player himself…
“He will definitely miss West Ham and I think he’ll definitely miss Stevenage (next Saturday), but talking to the boy, he thinks he is ready for Sunderland already.”
This could of course be hopeless optimism from Carroll, who will surely be desperate to make a return against the Black Cats. However, it’s all we’ve got to go on right now while we await results form his scans in London.
Carroll, who enjoyed a price rise to 6.5 in the Fantasy Premier League game going into Gameweek 21, has so far been sold by over 22,000 managers, a figure that will just continue to rise as we approach the introduction of the game-wide Wildcard in Gameweek 22.
It seems likely that we will learn more on the Carroll prognosis in the next 48 hours; if indeed the striker does make a return for Gameweek 23, he could suddenly become an effective differential having previously enjoyed a 54% FPL ownership.
